Track-clearing device.



PATENTED MAR. 27, 1906. 1

G. G. BATTEY. TRACK CLEARING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27. 1905.

3 SHBETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED MAR. 27, 1906.

0. o. BATTEY. TRACK CLEARING DEVICE.

Ciewriea 6. B 62 No. 816,208 PATENTED MAR. 27, 1906. O. G. BATTBY. TRACKCLEARING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27. 1905.

s SHEETS-SHEET s.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES c. BATTEY, OF CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

TRACK-CLEARING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 2?, 1906.

Application filed May 27, 1905. Serial No. 262,684.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. BATTEY, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Concord, in the county of Merrimack and State of. NewHampshire, have invented new and useful Improvements in Track-ClearingDevices,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to track-clearing devices for railways and itconsists in particular of improvements whereby packed ice and snow maybe effectually removed from that portion of the road-bed lyingimmediately inside the rails and in the path of the wheelflanges.

The operation of the ordinary snow-plow, while effectual to clear theroad bed as a whole of snow, is liable in practice to involve anaccumulation of packed snow around and inside the rails. Indeed, theaction of the snow-plow tends to aggravate this accumulation by packingsnow down and around the rails, and very often, therefore, analternation of thawing and freezing weather causes this packed snow toturn to a solid bed of ice, and not infrequently the flanges of thevehicle-wheels ride up on this ice formation and cause derailment of thevehicle. My improvements are contrived so as effectually to obviate thisdifficulty and to remove from the track the accumulations of ice andsnow which the ordinary snow-plow does not only not touch, but ratherassists in collecting and compacting.

In the drawings hereto annexed, which illustrate an embodiment of myinvention and improvements, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of avehicle, such as a platform-car, with my track-clearing device attachedand Fig. 2 is a cross-section of Fig. 1 at the line 2 2. Fig. 3 is afront elevation of the working parts of a referred form oftrack-clearing device, and ig. 4 is a plan view of the parts shown inFig. 3.

In the drawings, A represents the platform of the vehicle-body, and Bdepending upright bars arranged in pairs which are slightly spacedapart, so as to serve as the guides for the cross-head or cutter-head,presently to be described. These uprights are braced longitudinally bythe bars 0 and laterally by the bars C, these bars extending upward atsuitable angles and being secured to convenient points on the frame ofthe vehicle-body. The uprights B and braces C C constitute a frame inwhich the cutter-head is held and moved. The cutter-head is com.- posedof upright pieces D and cross-bars D D the lower cross-bar D beingsufficiently broad to serve as a proper base of attachment of thecutters or gouges E. The cutters E are preferably separately attached tothe cross-bar D and extend below this cross-bar, the outer cutter-bladebeing so located in the cutter-head that when the cutter-head isdepressed it will descend to a position near the inside of the rail T,Fig. 2. These cutters or gouges are, moreover, inclined at their loweror cutting end, as shown in Fig. 1,- so as the better to engage andremove ice which has accumulated inside the rails T. The bend orinclination of the gouge E is preferably in the direction in which thevehicle A is pro polled. By this means the grip of the cutters on thefrozen material tends to hold them and the cutter-head depressed. Thecutters E are mounted in the cutter-head so that their working points orends are slightly I spaced apart. These working points, as shown inFigs. 1 and 3, are beveled at both sides with substantial symmetry fromfront to rear, and, as shown in Fig. 3 each cutterblade or gouge isbeveled at the rear side from the point upward, so as to afford aadvanced point to the ice formed around and near the rails in suchmanner that the lowest point itself does substantially all the work,concentrating the action of the tool and confining it almost exclusivelyto the advanced point itself. The result of this construction of thecutters or gouges and their consequent mode of operation is to shiverthe ice by splitting it into many small fragments rather than by anoperation of shaving or plowing, which is much less effective than thesplitting action.

The ends of the cross-bars D? D extend laterally, so as to slide betweenthe uprights B, and the cross-brace B serves as a resistant rear bearingfor the cutter-head when the latter is lowered to its working position.The bar F, secured to the upper cross-bar D of the cutter-head, extendsthrough a suitable slot in the vehicle-platform and is controlled by alever H, pivoted upon the standard J, to which lever the bar F isloosely secured, as by IIO a staple G. In order to hold the cutter-headin its elevated and inoperative position, a number of holes L areprovided, through any one of which a key K can be passed in order tosupport the weight of the cutter-head.

In operation as the vehicle is propelled along the track, the key Khavin been removed by depressing the lever H, t e cutterhead and cuttersE are lowered to operative position. If it is desired to support thecutters at a greater elevation than would be thr case if the lever H ismerely allowed to rest upon the vehicle-platform, the key K may beinserted in one of the upper holes L. The action of the cutters or.gouges E is to split and break up the ice inside the rails, and thus torender it harmless, the mode shown of spacing the working ends of thecutters a short distance apart enabling each cutter to cooperate withits neighboring cutters to break up the ice.

Figs. 3 and 4 represent a more elaborately and completely organizedtrack-clearing device in the form which, on the whole, I prefer for itsadaptability to all conditions. In this form the bar D extends from apoint outside the rail T at one side to a point outside the other rail,being prolonged by the extensions D at the wings and the middle span DThe portions D and D are inclined, so as to form. an apex over themiddle of the track and trail ing outside wings outside the track. Atiebar D is secured to the extreme rearward ends of the wing-pieces Dand a strut D is secured to the middle of the tie-bar D and is bolted atthe back of the apex formed by the juncture of the forwardly-extendingmiddle portions of the cutter-bar sections D In order that the cuttersE, which occupy the middle space underneath the car, shall be set squarewith the direction of movement of a car, I provide beveled blocks (1, towhich the middle cutters E are bolted, the bolts extending through thebeveled blocks cl and bar D. The outside cutters E are similarly securedto the wing-bar I) with angle-blocks d.

The above-described track-clearing device is mounted in its frame sothat the lnclined series of cutters E and E act to push the accumulatingice-chips outward and finally to deliver them outside the rails afterthe manner of a plow. The splitting u and disintegration of the iceformed aroun and between the rails by means of the cutters E E E is anecessary preliminary to the final disposition of it by the plow actionof the cutter-head, for where a simple plow-blade might serve in thecase of light and unpacked snow when such a plow-blade comes in contactwith heavily-packed snow or solidly-frozen ice it is wholly inadequate,and if any clearing of such material is attempted the liability ofdamaging the plow is almost certain but with my track-clearing deviceabove de- E E E are spaced slightly apart, so that the local action ofeach point cracks and breaks the ice up into a multitude of loose chips,these chips can be disposed of very easily by the plowing action of theinclined cutter-bars with the cutters mounted thereon.

In Fig. 3 the preferred arrangement and adjustment of cutters is shown.The cutters E are of such length that their working points extend to alevel just below that of the tops of the rails T. The points of thecutter E which hang over the middle of the road-bed are higher, standingat a level a little higher than that of the tops of the rails, while thepoints of the cutters E outside the rails are preferably a little highereven than the points of the cutter E. Thus the track-clearing device mayoperate with a maximum of economy. The cutters E clear away the iceobstructions immediately inside the rails T and make a free passage forthe flanges of the vehicle-wheels, while the cutters E and E clear awaythe ice and snow in the middle of the track and just outside of it to alevel which is sufficient for all practical purposes.

I claim as my invention 1. In a track-clearing device for railways, thecombination of a vehicle-body, a frame secured thereto, a cutter-headmounted in the frame and a cutter secured to the cutterhead andconsisting of a number of gouges placed side by side, each of saidgouges 1nclined downwardly and forwardly, beveled with substantialsymmetry on each side from front to rear to form a point, and beveledfrom the point upwardly on the rear side of the gouge to affordclearance, the points of said gouges being spaced apart.

2. In a track-clearing device, the combination of a vehicle-body, aframe secured thereto, a cutter-head mounted in the frame and the cutterconsisting of a number of gouges secured to the cutter-head and placedside by side, each of said gouges being inclined downwardly andforwardly and provided with a ccllearance from the front upward on therear si e.

3. In a track-clearing device for railways, the combination of avehicle-body, a frame depending therefrom, said frame consisting of thepairs of uprights, braced longitudinally and laterally, and spaced apartto admit a cutter-head, the cutter-head sliding between the pairs ofuprights, cutters secured to the cutter-head, and means, operated fromthe vehicle, to adjust the elevation of the cutters with relation to thevehicle-body.

4. In a track-clearing device, the combination of a vehicle-body, aframe,.a cutterhead sliding in the frame, portions of the cutter-headoutside the rail-space and at the middle of said space being inclined,and intermediate portions next the rails being square to the directionof movement of the scribed as the working points of the cutters vehicle,cutters, consisting of gouges, secured to the cutter-head with theirWorking ends spaced apart, and stepped cutter-seats on the inclinedportions of the cutter-head.

5. In a track-clearing device, the combination of a vehicle-body, aframe, a cutterhead sliding in the frame, and comprising a cutter-barportions of which are inclined to the direction of movement Of thevehicle, cutter-seats upon said cutter-bar which are square to thedirection of movement of the vehicle and cutters secured upon said seatswith their working ends spaced apart.

6. In a track-clearing device, the combination of a vehicle-body, aframe, a cutterhead sliding in the frame, and comprising a cutter-barwhereof portions are inclined to the direction of movement of thevehicle, beveled blocks secured to the inclined portions of thecutter-bar and constituting seats for the cutters and the cutters seatedupon said blocks with their ends spaced apart.

Signed by me at Concord, New Hampshire, this 13th day of May, 1905.

CHARLES C. BATTEY.

